Virginians who earlier this week criticized a plan to lower the age at which children are eligible to be tried as adults haven't dealt with that. These protesters complain that changing the age at which kiddie criminals can be transferred to adult court from 15 to 14 might send a 14-year-old to the electric chair.

Indeed it might, but not without a good reason.

In this state and across the country, some boys will not be boys; they will be hardened criminals. Just ask any big-city prosecutor. I asked Howard Gwynn, a Democrat from Newport News, population 170,000.

``I have prosecuted a 13-year-old for armed robbery and murder,'' Gwynn said.

The evidence showed that this kid was the most guilty of the three defendants in the case, Gwynn said. But he was the only one who wasn't old enough to be tried as an adult. As a result, he got off a lot easier than his partners.

I don't know a prosecutor who doesn't have at least one story like that to tell. Most have several.

``A year ago I was in juvenile court doing arraignments, and I came upon a charge of malicious wounding,'' Gwynn said. ``The defendant had a baby face, but the facts of the case were these: A 13-year-old and a 12-year-old were out on the street at 2 o'clock in the morning. They had a marijuana cigarette but no matches. They asked an adult for a light, and when he made a smart remark about how they ought to be at home, the 13-year-old pulled out a .22 pistol and shot the man in the chest.''

As cold-blooded as this kid appears, he wouldn't qualify for adult treatment even under Virginia's new proposal. Remember, the task force only recommended lowering the age for adult treatment from 15 to 14 and then only if a juvenile court judge approves the transfer to adult court. Still, anything would be an improvement, not just because of what Gwynn and other prosecutors have seen recently in violent kids, but because of what they haven't seen.

``The scary thing,'' Gwynn said, ``is that there is no remorse. You look in their eyes, and they're blank.''

Virginians can't be proud that their state has 14-year-olds who act more like criminals than kids, but neither can they ignore it. The children Gwynn keeps running into in court are a sad fact of modern life. The sadder fact is that by the time they face prosecution, many of them are incorrigible.

Remember Lucky Turner, the Newport News boy who helped stomp a man to death for fun when he was 13? The juvenile justice system set him free after just five months in a youth home. When Lucky accidentally shot a friend a few weeks after his release, he went back to juvenile jail. But he was turned loose again and now stands charged with shooting two other people, this time on purpose in a fouled-up drug deal.

Lucky may not be the rule for young kids who commit violent crimes, but he is something more than an exception.

``There is a lost generation of kids out there,'' Gwynn said.

What this state and others have to do is find a way to deal with them. Making them stand trial as adults, no matter how young they are, is a start. Put a sunset provision on the idea that requires its re-evaluation after a certain period of time if you must, but at least give it a shot.

Sure, the prospect of 14-year-olds on death row seems inhuman and uncivilized. But the hardcore cases already out there prove that the choices are limited.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet to keep from taking it in the chest.